In a prior art automatic work handling apparatus, the construction is such that the operating mechanism on which an error arises is stopped instantaneously, an operating mechanism disposed upstream from the erroneously operating mechanism is stopped at a fixed point, and an operating mechanism disposed downstream from the erroneously operating mechanism is stopped for clear out.
Meanwhile, a fairly long time will be required for each operating mechanism to stop completely, and hence an error is capable of arising on another operating mechanism (i.e. an operating mechanism other than the detected erroneously operating mechanism) before the stop operation of all of the operating mechanisms is completed. In such a case, multiple errors takes place, and the prior art apparatus comes to a stop instantaneously.
In the case in which an error arises on a first operating mechanism, and an error further arises on another operating mechanism while the operating mechanisms are being stopped for reset, the prior art apparatus comes to a stop instantaneously as mentioned above, and therefore all of the operating mechanisms will be returned to home positions, and a work must be reset for restart-up of the apparatus, and thus a problem occurs in that a large amount of time will be required before the restart-up.